Chapter eighteen

Alphonse was confused. Ed had just said a lot of horrible things to Riza and Roy and now Roy was really angry with Ed and had taken him outside to scold him. Riza was looking pale, her mouth slightly open.

"Riza? Are you okay?" Al asked her cautiously.

Riza started shaking slightly, bowing her head. Al went over to her slowly. Brother had made her cry again. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to fix things. Al knew full well why Roy had been here tonight. He had told him as he checked his head after all. Al knew that he wasn't trying to romance Riza. Al had seen him in the hospital after Ed lost his arm: Roy had begun caring about them long before he met Riza. He spent a long time tonight telling Al that he was sorry for just leaving them on their own after the case was closed.

Roy was blaming himself for how the foster homes had treated them. It was just like Ed blaming himself for Barry killing Mom.

Al shook Riza's shoulder slightly. She was still crying. "Riza?" Al asked again.

She suddenly pulled him into a hug just as she began sniggering loudly. "Just what the hell have I got myself into?"

Ed was in a highly unusual situation. He was standing barefoot in a field in only his boxers and tank top at six in the morning, ordering Riza's boss what flowers to pick.

And ten minutes ago the man who had yelled at him so that he could have sworn he now had partial deafness had helped him pee behind a bush.

So now Ed was thoroughly embarrassed and little else.

And he had let the man hug him. He had actually sobbed into his shirt for at least ten minutes straight. And Ed was unable to look at him without seeing the dried snot covering his right chest pocket in among the still wet patch of tears.

Yet the man was still patiently picking flowers for him while Ed was scouting out the prettiest ones.

"By the way, Edward, I'm just wondering: aren't you a bit too young to jump to such conclusions as you did?" Mustang asked, looking at him curiously.

Ed blushed. He was still thoroughly embarrassed by the ordeal now that it was over and it turned out that he had falsely accused the man of sleeping with Riza.

"Learnt it at school," Ed said.

"Do they really teach you such things so early? I would at least have thought it would be at least another year or two."

"Me and Al have been doing science classes with the older kids and the teacher was so used to having us there that she didn't think about it when the school nurse came in and had a long lesson about puberty and … stuff." Ed still remembered the complete shock of listening to the teacher and the school nurse explain about condoms and everything. Ed knew from the science books how babies were born, but the fact that people did it for non-reproductive reasons… That was just weird. How was something so messy supposed to be fun?

"I see."

"Then the older kids kind of cornered us after the lesson, explaining everything else that the school nurse hadn't said … Do you people really do that stuff?" Ed found himself asking it before he could stop himself. He hadn't dared ask Mom about it in case she got angry with the school and they'd be stuck with the age-appropriate lessons instead that were years from chemistry and biology and things that were actually worth teaching.

Roy couldn't keep the faint blush from his cheeks. "What do you mean?"

"Oral and stuff … it sounds so gross," Ed said with an embarrassed whisper, giving an involuntary shiver.

Roy had to say that this wasn't exactly what he had been expecting, but to be fair to the kid, Roy was the one that had started this conversation. He might just as well get it over and done with. "Some people do."

"Urgh." The kid looked like he wanted to run, throw up and scream at the same time.

Roy had to say that the reaction was pretty amusing. Roy had pretty quickly realised just how much people thought was fun and kinks. He'd arrested people doing the weirdest things after drinking themselves silly or getting high. Now he had reached a point where not much surprised him any more. However, he guessed he should make one thing clear to Ed. "But remember, Edward, if you're being forced into doing anything like that against your will, then it's a criminal offence."

"It better be!"

Roy smiled slightly to himself and picked another flower. He had a pretty sizeable bouquet now and the kid only had one hand. He guessed that they were done. "Here you go, Edward," he said, straightening up and handing the flowers to the kid. Roy was only now noticing that the boy was shivering where he stood in the tall grass with morning dew up to his knees. He suddenly felt a bit bad about that. Yes, he had been pissed off with Ed for insulting Hawkeye like that, but Roy had forced him to stand in the cold and wet grass in inly his underwear with a broken arm, no painkillers and no shoes. Roy really didn't believe in physically punishing children for bad behaviour, and now he'd been so angry that he'd basically done just that.

"Come on, let's get back to the car so we can dry you off," Roy said, walking back through the field together with the kid, keeping a hand on his right shoulder in order to help him stay on his feet on the uneven surface. Once they reached the car, Roy opened the back door and got out his coat from where he'd left it the previous night and draped it around the kid's shoulders, earning a somewhat confused scowl.

"Why are you being so nice about it all of a sudden?" Edward asked him. Roy's coat went all the way down to the kid's ankles and it made him look even younger than he was. The golden eyes, however, held the pain of someone far older. The coat was slightly lopsided because of the missing arm, making his struggles even more visible. The child really had gone through hell in such a short time. "I thought you were angry with me?" Roy helped him get inside the car and went and fetched the fleece blanket in the trunk he kept for emergencies and stake-outs.

Roy sighed and sat himself inside the car, blanket on his lap. "Give me your feet."

Ed looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"Because your feet are cold and wet. I'm going to wrap them in the blanket before driving back to the flat."

"I don't get you. You're mad at me, aren't you? So why would you yell at me like that and then give me your coat? You're hardly consistent," Ed said, but he did as he was told, lying down in the seat while placing his legs on Roy's lap. He kept the bouquet of flowers in his hand, resting on his chest, his head lifted slightly as he looked at Roy curiously. "Are you gonna answer or not? Or are you giving me the silent treatment all of a sudden?"

Roy sighed as he began rubbing Ed's feet with the blanket. His feet were ice cold.

"Well?" Edward demanded impatiently.

"You know, kid, you're trying to make someone who investigates murders for a living explain basic human decency."

"So that's it, huh? You're weird, Mustang."

"I'm also the man that dragged a kid without shoes into a wet field at six o'clock. I shouldn't have done that, you could have stepped on something sharp and cut your feet or something. There's still a chance that you'll get a cold from this. Also, I forgot about the fact that your arm must be hurting like hell. I've hardly acted like a responsible adult, have I?"

"So I've gone from pissing you off to making you feel guilty?" Ed asked, looking at him like he was fearing a bit for Roy's sanity. "So it wasn't actually a part of the punishment for saying that stuff earlier?" Edward looked like he was afraid that he was pushing his luck. Roy guessed the kid was just curious about knowing how adult males with their moral compasses actually functioning worked. Roy also had a feeling that this was a rare moment of sincerity for the boy and that he was still pretty shaken up from the scolding. Roy guessed he should use the opportunity to actually show him that there were people didn't feel like abandoning him because of his history. Or who thought of the kid differently because of what he'd been through.

"No. I don't believe in physically punishing bad behaviour in children."

"You don't, huh? That's cool, I guess." Ed put his head back down, apparently trusting Roy to warm his feet without constant surveillance.

Roy, however, had to say that it raised a whole new kind of worry. "Are you used to physical punishment?" If the kid had received that on top of everything, then Hawkeye should know.

"Mom didn't, if that's what you're thinking," Ed said sternly.

"That still doesn't answer my question, Edward. If any of the foster homes use physical punishment to correct bad behaviour, then that means that they shouldn't be in the system."

"It was just once after I punched Mr. Williams by mistake after having a nightmare," Ed said like it didn't really matter. "I don't think it's something like that was normal for him."

"Edward, tell me." Roy felt anger boiling within him. Foster homes were supposed to be safe places.

"He just got angry with me when I wouldn't stop screaming, it was my fault." Roy could hear that he was trying to avoid talking about it.

"Edward, it's not your fault for having nightmares, please tell me."

"He dragged me out into the garden and locked the door on me. Told me he didn't want to listen to me anymore. They sent us away the next day," Ed said, sounding ashamed.

Roy was horrified. "He left you in the garden in the middle of the night?" he asked angrily.

Ed flinched at the change in Roy's voice and raised his head again, looking a bit scared. "Yes…" he said quietly.

"In only your pyjamas?"

"Mhm."

"Without any sources of light or warmth?"

"Mhm."

Roy took a deep breath to calm himself down. He gripped his hair with his right hand and closed his eyes. "Damn it, kid, why didn't you report it?"

"It didn't matter anyway when we were sent away right after."

"It matters because that is child abuse and basically a form of torture and you were a scared child! It matters because they were assigned by the state to take care of you! It matters, Ed, because contrary to what you believe, you matter!"

"It doesn't seem to be the popular opinion though, does it?" Ed said bitterly. "Maybe you're the one who's wrong and I really am shit? Have you even considered that, Mustang? Maybe there's just something wrong with both of us? Maybe you, me, Mom, Al and Riza are just freaks? If that's it, why should I keep trying to force the world to accept me?"

"You can't possibly mean that, Ed." Roy felt his stomach clench at the possibility of the kid giving up. He was angry at the world, that was clear, but it was a hell of a lot better than accepting that people treated him like dirt. And he still had that fire in his eyes, that showed Roy that he hadn't given up just yet.

However, Ed had nearly reached the breaking point just an hour ago. When Ed believed that Hawkeye had just swapped them out, he had shouted that he'd wished that his stepfather had finished him off for good. Roy could see why. Having to start all over again after being trodden even further down into the earth wasn't easy. Especially not when he had already had two fathers give up on him in the way they had even before the foster families.

"I just don't know…" Ed said bitterly.

Roy made a split second decision and pulled Ed up on his lap and into a hug. Ed made a few confused spluttering noises, but Roy didn't care. He knew that Hawkeye would keep these kids and he knew that this meant that him and Hawkeye would be the last two straws that they were grasping at to save them before they had had enough, but it didn't matter.

Roy wouldn't leave them.

Not a second time.